


Finding the Body

by qxzenith



Category: All Just Glass - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, Den of Shadows Series - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, Shattered Mirror - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Genre: Adianna experiences sympathy but not enough to actually do something about it, F/M, Flashbacks, Hurt/Comfort, Sarah and Nik both have flashbacks, Sarah makes small talk, SingleEarth, Sort Of, Vampires, Vida witches, for no apparent reason, idk i wrote this 15 years ago, mutual hurt/comfort?, oashe, oashe contest, the Rights of Kin, written pre-AJG
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-03
Updated: 2006-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:34:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23940151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qxzenith/pseuds/qxzenith
Summary: Back in 2006, when I was a literal child, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes posted a fanfiction contest on her message board, to write "oashe" - a Ha'Shmla word (the language family spoken by several of the magical cultures in the series) meaning "that which might have been." For the contest, we were offered somewhere between 2-4 prompts of scenarios which were JUST this side of possible, in another reality, for her characters, but which would definitely never make it onto the published page, and were therefore fair game as fanfiction that the author would see. If I remember correctly, part of the fun was that the fanfictions would be posted without names, along with a noncanon piece on one of the prompts by the author mixed in, and we could vote on which we thought it was. I genuinely don't remember anything beyond reading the contest instructions, and writing my own very ill-advised attempt, though.The prompt I took was called "Romance," and challenged me to write a piece in which Sarah Vida and Nikolas Ravena kiss. Or something. Listen, I have my story, I don't have the contest guidelines anymore. I wrote this 15 years ago, when I was a child, and I have done nothing to improve it or change it in any way. I'm sorry.
Relationships: Sarah Vida/Nikolas Ravena
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Finding the Body

**Author's Note:**

> Back in 2006, when I was a literal child, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes posted a fanfiction contest on her message board, to write "oashe" - a Ha'Shmla word (the language family spoken by several of the magical cultures in the series) meaning "that which might have been." For the contest, we were offered somewhere between 2-4 prompts of scenarios which were JUST this side of possible, in another reality, for her characters, but which would definitely never make it onto the published page, and were therefore fair game as fanfiction that the author would see. If I remember correctly, part of the fun was that the fanfictions would be posted without names, along with a noncanon piece on one of the prompts by the author mixed in, and we could vote on which we thought it was. I genuinely don't remember anything beyond reading the contest instructions, and writing my own very ill-advised attempt, though.
> 
> The prompt I took was called "Romance," and challenged me to write a piece in which Sarah Vida and Nikolas Ravena kiss. Or something. Listen, I have my story, I don't have the contest guidelines anymore. I wrote this 15 years ago, when I was a child, and I have done nothing to improve it or change it in any way. I'm sorry.

Adianna swore. She had come to the bash hoping to find Sarah, or at least one of her friends. She kept on thinking she saw Kristopher or Nikolas, but as soon as she got close enough to be sure, he’d disappear. Now she found herself in a kitchen, alone but for one of the most powerful vampires alive. She reached for her knife, knowing that while she couldn’t possibly win this fight, it was equally impossible that she wouldn’t try to, anyway.

“Stop.” Adia was surprised that the leech would even consider not killing her, but after pulling out her weapon, she paused, waiting to hear what Kaleo would say. “I know why you’re here, and personally, I have no objections to letting you kill your sister, if you actually feel prepared to do so.” Adianna clenched her teeth. Sarah was dead, she kept telling herself that was so, but the way Kaleo had phrased things still stung. If he noticed her discomfort, he ignored it, and went on. “All I ask is that you don’t do it in my home. I will give you the address she is staying at, and then I will escort you to the door.” He reached into a pocket – he had come prepared, it seemed – and pulled out a scrap of paper, which he handed to Adia. She read it quickly and crumpled it up, planning to burn it later, just in case. Kaleo offered his arm, which she had no choice but to take, and he began to guide her toward the door.

When they reached the main room, everybody fell silent, no doubt confused by the picture they presented. At the door, before she could leave, he raised her hand to his mouth. _This is it,_ thought Adianna, _he’s going to drink my blood in view of all his guests, where I can’t hope to do anything._ But he merely brushed his lips across her fingers and then released her, pushing her out of the house.

Adianna drove away, shuddering at how close she had come to being bloodbonded or worse. She headed home–the address Kaleo had given her was clear across town, and she would do better to go there in daylight, when she’d had some sleep and any vamps who might be there would be weaker. _Why am I believing a leech who’d be more than happy to see me dead, anyway? But what could he lose from me killing my . . . my prey? Sarah was a hunter. It’s not unreasonable for him to be willing to get rid of her. And besides, if it_ is _a trap, I’ll be prepared beforehand; it’s not like I’m going there unarmed. Right?_

✻✻✻

Nissa looked at her watch. “Will you be okay here? I’m sorry, it’s just that I promised the boys that I’d go with Christine and Marguerite as soon as I got you settled, and, well–”

“I understand,” Sarah interrupted. “I’ll be fine. I was surprised by how accepting your friends were, all things considered. I may not stay long, though. I don’t want to put anyone in danger.”

✻✻✻

Adianna got out of the car. She told herself that by knocking at the front door instead of letting herself in at the back, she was gaining the element of surprise. She told herself that there was no Sarah, only a vampire occupying her deceased sister’s body. She told herself that it was not foolish to come here alone, and that there was no part of her that secretly wanted to lose the fight with her prey. She told herself many things, but she wasn’t entirely convinced.

Nevertheless, she steeled herself and knocked at the door, knife at the ready for whoever – _whatever_ – would come out.

It was one of the twins, the twins who had bloodbonded and then changed Sarah. Her sister’s murderers. In less time than it would have taken him to blink, he was pinned against the wall with a Vida knife pressed against his throat. “Where’s Sarah?” she hissed. “And where are the others?” She didn’t want anyone bursting in on this little chat.

“The others are . . . out,” he managed, evidently having trouble drawing breath.

She slackened her hold by a hair, giving him enough space in which to breathe but not to move around. “And Sarah?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want you to hurt her.”

She tried to strike at him with her mind, but he was ready for her; his walls were already in place. Well, then. Time for some more extreme measures. Adianna wrapped her power around Kristopher’s and _tugged_. He gritted his teeth, but made no sound. She tried again, harder. He emitted a low groan of pain, yet no information was forthcoming. She pulled at his energy source one more time. A trickle of blood slid down his left arm, and he fell, limp, to the floor. Damn it–she had applied too much force, and he was unconscious.

She opened the door, only to turn around again. The last time she had spared this creature’s life, it had gotten Sarah killed. Who knew how many more lives–or souls–would be lost if she made that mistake again? She bent down, and drove her silver Vida knife into where she knew his heart was, and twisted. When she was sure that he was destroyed, she left. As she drove away, she cleaned her blade, feeling disgusted with herself but unsure of why; she had killed leeches before, it was nothing special. And yet, something about the way he had shown such loyalty for someone he cared for struck her, made her think how lucky those who had known him must have been.

✻✻✻

Nikolas had a strange feeling all of a sudden, as if something he had always known had abruptly ceased to be true. He could not allow himself to panic, or cry out. He could not even try to figure out what it meant until he was sure that the SingleEarth people would take his sister and those under his protection in. He had gone with them, disguised as his brother since he himself would not have been allowed in, to ensure that they would not be thrown out of SingleEarth; to ensure that they would not be hurt. He didn’t think it safe for Nissa, Christine, and Marguerite to stay in his home anymore, now that the witches were looking to kill Sarah, and, probably, the ones who had ‘killed’ her.

✻✻✻

Sarah felt something; a click in her head as if a door that were open had suddenly been shut. She wanted to check back ‘home’ to see what was wrong, but first she would have to politely extricate herself from the conversation she was having with a vamp. It was funny, in a way, that she was currently making small talk with the sort of creature whom a month ago she would merely have killed on sight. _The sort of creature that she now was._ She had to keep reminding herself of that fact.

“Well, I really have to go now, it was very nice meeting you.” She brought herself out of the party and outside the house she was currently staying in with a thought. That was odd–the door was open. Had someone broken in? No, it was all in one piece, yet ajar. She stepped inside and almost tripped. When she looked down to see what was blocking her path, her stomach rolled and her knees buckled, bringing her right up to her lost friend.

✻✻✻

After the witch assured him multiple times that his friends were welcome in SingleEarth, Nikolas left, worried about the strange _something_ that he had felt. At the door to his house, he stopped short, his eyes drawn to a drop of blood. Looking forward, he gasped at the sight of his twin’s corpse.

✻✻✻

Memories pervaded the minds of both Sarah and Nikolas. Memories of those they had killed, but even more, memories of those close to them who had died.

_She opened the door only to stumble across_

_**He came downstairs and immediately faced** _

_her father’s body_

_**his father’s corpse** _

_covered in blood, from cuts made_

_**covered in blood, from the fatal cut made** _

_by his killers, in order to cause him pain. She_

_**by Kaleo, in order to sate his anger. He** _

_went back inside; went crazy smashing windows. She_

_**cleaned up the blood from the floor and from the body. He** _

_couldn’t understand how Adia and Dominique could be so calm about_

_**wouldn’t let Christopher be as disturbed as he had been by** _

_her father’s death._

_**his father’s death.** _

✻✻✻

Simultaneously, they awoke from their reveries, cheeks wet with tears. “I know whose work this is,” Sarah spat, her voice full of fury and sadness, “and I won’t blame you if you decide to hunt down every Vida in revenge – don’t think I haven’t considered that myself.”

“If you hunted down every Vida, that would mean killing yourself,” Nikolas commented in a voice whose tremor conveyed the feelings he would otherwise have succeeded in hiding.

“They cast me out,” she contradicted, “I’m dead to them now – I’m prey to them now.”

As they finished cleaning the body, Nikolas’s control cracked. “He was my _brother!_ ” His voice was bitter with pain and loss.

Sarah held him in his arms, gently, comfortingly. “You’re my kin now,” she told him softly, “and we will protect each other.”

As he placed his lips on hers, Nikolas reflected that with Sarah to protect him, and for him to protect, he just might be able to survive his grief.


End file.
